We could say that the Buddha was teaching us to breath again. It’s said that the prince Siddhartha was sitting under a Bodhi tree, practicing the anapanasati (the mindfulness of breathing) when he gained enlightenment and became awake, a Buddha. He was aware of the whole experience of breathing. Through breathing he trained the mind to be sensitive to the body, rapture, pleasure, the mind, mental processes, impermanence, dispassion, cessation, relinquishment. And while breathing he learned to release the mind from suffering. In this session we explore turning towards experience with breathing.
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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Caverly Morgan – Week of July 6
We’re very grateful to have Caverly Morgan hosting our Daily Meditation Series for North America. To find out more about Caverly, and to view her past recordings and contributions to Sangha Live, click here. Monday, July 6 Being all expression of being Wednesday, July 8 I am whole Friday, July 10 Resting in gratitude Tuesday,…
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The Supramundane Nature of Emptiness
Recorded :
September 15, 2024 Emptiness can be a loaded word for lay practitioners. It can bring up a sense of isolation and annihilation. The dharma of emptiness, however, is a fundamental part of practice. Even in the most mundane tasks of our ordinary lives, we can access emptiness and feel the freedom that comes with it. It’s not about…
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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Antonia Sumbundu – Week of 24 February, 2025
We are delighted to have Antonia Sumbundu leading our Daily Meditation sessions this week. May these sessions support and enrich your practice.
This week’s theme is:
Compassion in Action, Wisdom in Practice – Living the Six Paramitas
This week we will be exploring how the Six Paramitas offer a pathway to living with more awareness, wisdom, and compassion by nourishing the qualities of generosity, integrity, patience, diligence, collectedness, and wisdom. Each day focuses on one or two paramitas, combining instructions for our sitting practice and reflections on how to integrate these qualities into daily life.
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The Power of a New Year’s Resolution
Recorded :
January 5, 2020 We start a new year. It is 2020. Perhaps the intensity of environmental dramas in 2019 finally made clear to many people the vulnerabilities to life on Earth. It might be useful to make a New Year’s resolution that lasts longer than a week. Here are four considerations. 1. Dedicate an hour a day or…
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From Mindfulness to Dharma: The Fourth Foundation
Recorded :
October 28, 2018 The huge popularity of mindfulness is accompanied by a lot of confusion in relation to mindfulness in and of itself and how much it embodies the wider teachings of the Buddha. What is dharma? When, if and how is mindfulness the same as or different from dharma? This topic will be discussed in relation to…
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This Is What We Are: Foam, Bubbles, Mirage, Banana Tree Trunks and Magical Shows
Recorded :
January 22, 2023 In this session, we will explore the Buddha’s wise use of images in the Phena Sutta. We will see how these are representations of the deepest teachings of Insight Meditation and how they can be relevant for us today in our quest to free the mind and heart from constriction. There will be time to practice together guided by Pascal and time for questions and beginning of answers.
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The Importance of the Uplifting Experience
Recorded :
September 24, 2023 The Buddha taught about life’s suffering—known as ‘dukkha’—and how our personal, social and global issues can weigh us down. Yet dukkha does not have the inherent power to stop ‘sukkha,’ or happiness, from breaking through. In this session, we will explore ‘upliftment’, and the joys that keep our spirit alive. Upliftment of the human spirit…
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Integrity – A Bridge Over Troubled Water
Recorded :
July 12, 2020 In challenging situations, we can lose our ground. Not knowing what to rely on, we are liable to reactivity, either withdrawing or lashing out. Fear and anger are very human reactions to what we perceive as injustice or threat. While there is no need to condemn us for experiencing them, our hearts might yearn for…
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